Not Weak, Just Stronger

Chapter 36: It's October

The car came to a screeching halt at the parking lot of some ice cream shop near Lauren's old house in Pinecrest. Camila bolted out the door and ran up to Cruz who was eating a cup of ice-cream Dinah bought him. She pulled him into her arms and hugged him tight as Lauren approached them in a hurry, out of breath with her hand over her racing heart. She silently thanked Dinah who was finishing her ice cream all calm and collected.

"You scared me to death!" Camila yelled when she pulled away from Cruz. "Don't do that ever again!"

"What were you doing outside wandering around?" asked Lauren, using a softer tone because she didn't like yelling at Cruz.

"I didn't feel safe in the house so I had to leave. I just wanted to run and clear my head, but then I got lost. I promise I was coming back, I—"

"I told you to wake me if you're feeling bad," Lauren told him. "Why didn't you wake me up??"

"You're lucky Dinah was around this late, otherwise something bad might've happened to you—God forbid!" Camila huffed then hugged him again. "I love you, Cruz. You can't do this to us. Next time come to us when you're not feeling good. We're here for you, mijo."

"I got him ice-cream because it always cheers me up," Dinah told them as she finished her last scoop. "He was pretty shaken up and wouldn't tell me what was wrong, so I had to do something."

"You're a blessing, Cheechee. Thank you so much!" Camila jumped to her feet and hugged the tall blonde tightly.

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again," Cruz frowned. He blinked and squeezed his eyes shut multiple times. "Please don't hurt me. I'm already in so much pain."

"Pain?" Lauren pulled him into her arms protectively and kissed the top of his head. "What kind of pain? I'm not gonna hurt you, Cruz."

"Should I go and leave you guys alone now?" Dinah asked, unsure of what to do now that she did what was important and finished her ice cream.

"I'll call you in the morning, babe. Thanks again," Camila kissed Dinah's cheek and Lauren just looked up and nodded before returning her attention back to Cruz.

"No problem. Have a good night. Bye, Cruz. Don't forget you have my number now so call me anytime," Dinah waved goodbye then walked off.

"I'm not okay. And you couldn't possibly understand," Cruz got defensive now and pushed Lauren away. "Neither of you can understand. Can we just all leave it alone and go home?"

"Cruz..." Camila tried in a softer tone. "Remember what we talked about before."

"I don't care what we talked about before, Camila! You don't get it. The both of you are lying to me, you're setting me up!" he shouted.

Now that Dinah was gone, Cruz wanted to unleash all hell on them. He was paranoid and convinced this was all just a scam—a show that Camila and Lauren was putting on for all the world to see. No one could possibly be this nice and love him, and no one was ever this nice without expecting something in return. There was always a debt to be paid; however it was paid didn't matter so much as long as the person was pleased with the payment. He tried believing his current foster parents were doing this out of the kindness of their hearts but he just wasn't buying it. His mind was too damaged to give him a break and let go of the trauma, he wasn't ready to heal yet nor did he know how.

"Setting you up?? Cruz—"

He cut her off, "You're only very nice to me so you can get me to trust you, and you're only taking me to see your friends because you wanna show off and make them believe you're great parents just so you can abuse me behind the scenes and get away with it because it'll be hard to believe."